Plan funds for Rs.2,000 crore allotted to government departments and other agencies in the current financial year are learnt to have been parked idly in the Treasury Savings Bank and other banks.
This revelation comes at a time when the State is facing an acute cash crunch, and the revenue gap has been pegged at Rs.5,600 crore.
Finance Department sources told The Hindu here that the gross Plan fund absorption had not crossed the 50 per cent mark even at the fag end of the current financial year. This would inevitably lead to bunching of expenditure within the next fortnight.
Though the department claims that the gross Plan expenditure of about 48 per cent in the current year was three per cent higher than the utilisation rate in the corresponding period during the previous year, it was much lower than the official projection, the sources said.
Considering the laxity in utilising the funds, the government has granted time till March 31 to make use of the funds, and the unspent funds will be resumed by the Finance Department in due course. A rough assessment has revealed that externally aided projects such as those supported by the Asian Development Bank and other agencies are virtually limping along in the State.
The World Bank-aided Dam Improvement and Rehabilitation Project and the State Road Improvement Project have set a record of sorts by not utilising even a single paisa from the sanctioned funds so far. Jalanidhi could spend only 18 per cent of the funds, and the Kerala State Urban Development Project (KSUDP) 22 per cent. The government will have to pay substantial sums as commitment charges in the case of externally aided projects.
Implementation of Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) is also reported to have gone awry. Its utilisation rate has been around 45 per cent so far.
A lion’s share of the one-time Additional Central Assistance to the State also largely remains unutilised. About 70 per cent of the allocation remains untouched.
Many programmes in the health sector have not yet been initiated. Same is true in the case of the Education Department.
